The Squid and the Whale

I popped in to "The Squid and the Whale" on Friday. It's billed as a dark comedy, but there's a lot more dark than comedy, though you wouldn't know that to watch the preview.

The movie is depressing all around, but it works because it strikes true on all notes. Great performances from everyone, especially Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney.

The movie's screenplay is its best sell, however. The film stays firmly with the world view of the elder child, Walt, and transfer our sympathy from from his father to his mother (what sympathy we have left).

It's expertly written and the single best scene is where Walt is brought into a counselor's office to discuss why he claimed to write a Pink Floyd song. "I felt I could have written it, so that someone wrote it before was a technicality." It's a very touching scene that is both depressing, tragic, and very funny.